Chris Pine on Big Budget Films and Box Office Flops

The residual success of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek has lingered since it’s explosive release in 2009. Longtime fans of “Star Trek” and non-fans alike discovered that the science fiction genre is not exclusive to one kind of audience demographic.

Obviously, the feeling was mutual with Paramount pictures, as they quickly ordered a sequel, following the film’s 2009 summer release.

In Abrams’ Star Trek, Chris Pine plays a younger version of Captain Jim Kirk (originally portrayed by William Shatner in the 1960’s television series). Pine recently talked with Collider about the pressure of creating a big budget sequel.

Pine explained that higher budget films can mean a bigger gamble for the studio. “Generally speaking, the more money that’s involved in anything, the more people are expecting and hoping that it’s not going to fail.”

However, Pine seems to think that there is very little that can be done to guarantee a film’s success. “If you’re a part of that process of whether it’s going to fail or succeed, you’re only human and you hope that it does well.”

Pine also explained that, as an actor in any project, you can not ensure that a movie will do well at the box office. “There is only so much, as an actor, that you can do. People are either going to respond to it or not, and I would drive myself crazy if I tried to control it anymore than that, other than a really fervent desire that people come and watch it and like it. We at least tried to do a really good job.”

Pine also went on to talk about films that do turn out to be, well, bad. “Critics think we try to make bad films. They think we want to spend five months of our lives making something bad.”

Pine said that even the worst box office flops had truly committed teams working to try to make them great. “We always go out with the best of intentions, whether it’s fluffy comedy or a drama. It’s always in the effort of, ‘Please come, like it, enjoy it, take something away!’”